Hey, folks. I am finishing up a timing belt job on my 02 civic, after doing all 4 struts and a front suspension rebuild.

I pulled the thermostat out and saw it said 78C and chuckled because to me (mostly working on Volvos), 78C is an insanely cold thermostat that people might use if the radiator or water pump is failing to try to avoid overheating. I have a new thermostat, which is at 90C. 90C seems totally right to my experience, but I am basically a noob when it comes to Hondas. I am shocked that the cooling system only holds 1 gallon. Normal for me is 2-3 gallons. None of the listings I've seen actually have a temperature listed, and simply give the part number. Photos are not usually big/good enough to see what is stamped on the thermostat.

On another topic - do these engines ever need their valves adjusted? It has a 1-stage (on/off) VTEC 16V SOHC. It has 184k miles on it now, so it seems likely that they need to be adjusted if they have never been touched. I don't know what the adjustments are supposed to be, but none of the tappets appear to be touching at TDC.